Monday July 17, 8:05 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Hollywood.com, Inc.
Hollywood.com, Inc. and Verizon Wireless Form Content Alliance
Hollywood.com Uses Its own WAP Site to Provide 25 Million Verizon Wireless Customers Mobile Access to Extensive Entertainment Content
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., and BEDMINSTER, N.J., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless provider in the U.S., and HOLLYWOOD.COM, INC. (Nasdaq: HOLL - news), the comprehensive, entertainment-focused Internet company with a variety of popular Web sites and business-to-business divisions, today announced that they have signed an agreement to provide Hollywood.com's content, data and services directly to Verizon Wireless' 25 million Mobile Web customers -- wherever they want it, whenever it's convenient. Content provided by Hollywood.com includes movie show times, film synopses and reviews, entertainment news, box office results and movie trivia.
(Photo: newscom.com )
Verizon Wireless today launched its nationwide Mobile Web service, which combines the convenience and mobility of wireless communications with popular content from the World Wide Web. The Mobile Web service, which runs on Verizon Wireless' robust and reliable, coast-to-coast CDMA network, gives users access to the Web-based information they want via their wireless handset.
In this content distribution alliance, Verizon Wireless subscribers will soon also have the ability to buy movie tickets on MovieTickets.com, an online movie ticketing service, using their wireless or handheld device. MovieTickets.com is a joint venture with Hollywood.com, AMC Entertainment, National Amusements, Famous Players, Viacom and several other movie exhibitors.
Hollywood.com will make use of its proprietary WAP (wireless application protocol) site. This allows Hollywood.com to provide its content directly to Verizon Wireless for display on the menu system of its Web-enabled phones, without the need for special ``bookmarks'' or handset typing. Hollywood.com will be featured in one of the top positions under the ``Entertainment'' menu category.
``We are pleased to provide Verizon Wireless' 25 million subscribers with a convenient and easy way to access movie-related information, anytime they want it and no matter where they are,'' said Mitchell Rubenstein, Chairman and CEO, HOLLYWOOD.COM, INC.
``This agreement represents our commitment to introduce a complete range of customized information services for our Mobile Web customers. Hollywood.com adds real value to the service, driving users to rely on their mobile phone as an indispensable source of information that follows them anywhere,'' said Marc Lefar, Verizon Wireless' staff vice president, e-business, Wireless Internet and Data Services. ``Approximately 1.5 billion people went to the movies last year, and now this audience can easily access movie listings and show times at their convenience via their Web-enabled phone by customizing their Mobile Web service based on their unique interests.''
Earlier this year, Hollywood.com formed a new B2B division, Hollywood.com Wireless, to license entertainment content to wireless carriers and distributors, providing consumers with direct access to Hollywood.com content via personal digital assistants, cell phones and other wireless devices.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 4 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE: BEL - news), Vodafone AirTouch Plc (NYSE: VOD; London), and GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE - news). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets.
Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center on the World Wide Web at: verizonwireless.com.
About HOLLYWOOD.COM, INC.
HOLLYWOOD.COM, INC is a leading comprehensive entertainment portal on the Internet, with a broad and deep collection of entertainment content. On the strength of its established platform of recognized brands, strategic partners and unique content, the Company has launched numerous successful Web sites that capitalize on the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. HOLLYWOOD.COM, INC. includes significant Web sites and several Business-to-Business (B2B) divisions:
Web Sites
-- Hollywood.com (www.Hollywood.com) is the leading movie-related site on
the Internet, featuring over one million pages of in-depth movie
information, including movie descriptions and reviews, showtime
listings, entertainment news, and an extensive multi-media library.
-- Broadway.com (www.Broadway.com) offers the most comprehensive online
coverage of live theater in the world, including online theater
tickets, showtimes for more than 1,900 separate venues in the top 100
U.S. markets, theater news and interviews, opening night coverage and
video excerpts from selected shows.
-- MovieTickets.com (www.MovieTickets.com) offers movie tickets for sale
online and is a joint venture with partners AMC Entertainment Inc.,
National Amusements, Famous Players, Viacom and several other
exhibitors which collectively operate theaters located in all of the
top 10 markets, approximately 70% of the top 50 markets nationwide,
and approximately 50 of the 100 top grossing theaters in North
America.
Business-to-Business
-- Baseline (www.HollywoodPro.com) is possibly the world's largest and
most comprehensive database of movie information, geared to studio
executives and industry insiders, and available online by subscription
only. Baseline subscribers include major movie studios, investment
banks, news agencies, consulting firms and other professionals in the
entertainment business.
-- CinemaSource is the largest supplier in North America of movie
showtimes and related content, based on a highly-efficient data
gathering infrastructure which maintains a database of movie showtimes
for virtually every cinema in the United States and Canada, totaling
approximately 36,000 movie screens. The Company syndicates this
information to approximately 200 Internet outlets, including seven of
the 10 most visited sites on the World Wide Web. Customers include
Yahoo!, Excite@Home, Ticketmaster-CitySearch, the New York Times Web
site, LATimes.com and USAToday.com.
-- EventSource licenses to Web sites and wireless providers the first and
only nationwide online database of general events information, ranging
from live theater and concerts to local book-signings. Customers
include AOL's Digital City and the New York Times Web site.
(The matters discussed herein that are forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that may result in such expectations not being realized. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks described in Hollywood.com, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.)
Contact: Gary Schweikhart, 561-988-5016, gschweikhart@boca.hollywood.com, or Maureen Squillace, 310-586-2077, msquillace@la.hollywood.com, both of Hollywood.com, Inc.; or Andrea Linskey of Verizon Wireless, 908-306-7845, linskan@bam.com; or Kristen Riddell, 617-520-7058, kriddell@webergroup.com.
SOURCE: Hollywood.com, Inc. |
